On The Road by Jack Kerouac

When I first read this I didn’t want to come to it with too many expectations, but any mention of Jack Kerouac and you’re bound to hear how great the book is. And with every mention of how great it is made me want to read it that much more. I liked the book, Kerouac’s writing is fantastic, each page flows like poetry, but the Dean Moriarty “character” kind of got on my nerves.

Maybe my opinion of the character was tainted by a quote I read, or maybe it was fact that I just couldn’t identify in any way with Dean Moriarty, but I just felt like he wasn’t the “Beat Hero” people make/made him out to be.

Toward the end, during the trip to Mexico City I began to like Dean a little, I felt like he was becoming a more calm character and I felt I was beginning to understand him more, but after the Mexico trip when Sal was in New York and found a girl and moved in with her, Dean shows up and while Sal is out he sleeps with his girl, proving he is a dick.

But, thankfully, my dislike of Dean Moriarty didn’t ruin the book for me, it reminded me of when I was younger, the drive and lust to just be out experiencing things, seeing things and feeling things. It reminded me that I need to pay attention to the things and the people around me, not just go through the motions of living, because if you don’t you might miss something.